I Hope Frictional Learned From Rebirth

[PsyWarVeteran]

Double down on gameplay and puzzles and not sappy stories. There is a reason 90% of the people who player Rebirth pick "The Fortress" as their favorite level.

The classic design is still the best: A hubworld that has multiple paths to go, with multiple things to do and items to collect. The player then combines those to solve the main problem. Like the original Amnesia's elevator or pipe puzzle and Rebirth's Tank puzzle in the Fortress. I think this system can work even better in a semi-open world game if the Bunker is going to be something like that. I get to choose which path to take without any linearity.

Don't implement the inventory system just to have it in game, do something with it like Penumbra and Amnesia TDD. Rebirth barely used it that it might as well not be there.

Pay extra attention to monster design too, Rebirth's ghouls were very generic and Wraiths weren't scary at all. The first Amnesia's enemies were so much creepier and unique looking.


Amnesia Rebirth was one of the only games I pre-ordered and immediately regretted. I really hope this game puts Amnesia back on the map and truly revives the franchise. Who knows, maybe we'll see my personal favorite Frictional series, Penumbra, make a return in the future.

[talloyer]

At this point we can only hope, since the game is only less than 4 months away then I believe not much can be changed at this point.
I really hope for more variety of enemies, though. Apart from SOMA, Frictional Games' games has very few types of enemies per game and I hope there are more types of enemies and different strategies to deal with them.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Nothing can be changed at this point, I just wish they developed this game with the criticisms to Rebirth in mind.

SOMA had great enemy variety, and they looked unique and cool too. I hope there will be more variation but to tell the truth, I think they'll have one main monster that you constantly have to evade alongside dogs and maybe other smaller enemies.

[Yanka]

Originally posted by PsyWarVeteran:

Nothing can be changed at this point, I just wish they developed this game with the criticisms to Rebirth in mind.

We'll see! I 100% agree with your first post, I was in the same boat.
Fortress hub as you said was great.
I sent them bug reports for the various bugs, problems encountered but did not bother finishing it.

After that I stopped watching what Frictional Games do.
Two friends sent me messages about this new Amnesia, that's why I'm here.

It reminds me of Penumbra though; I think they use the name Amnesia because it's more known, better strategically.

Well, let's keep an eye on the project… I'm expecting nothing still I'm curious to see the players' reaction when it comes out. It will help me decide if I'll try it or not.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Originally posted by Yanka:

It reminds me of Penumbra though; I think they use the name Amnesia because it's more known, better strategically.

Yeah, from the trailer we can see that it has dark, cramped locations similar to Penumbra. Taking place in a bunker helps with that oppression.

[PsyWarVeteran]

A creepy WWII bunker is much more appealing to me than yet another eldritch cosmic horror. Agreed on the student writers part.

I'll keep an eye on this one, though definitely not going to pre-order, I got burned once with Rebirth.

[BhaalSakh]

From what we can see, this game seems way closer to TDD, in terms of atmosphere and pacing. Which is great. I hated Rebirth.

[WuffWabbit]

TDD was revolutionary. It introduced so many people to the genre. Soma proved they could do even better, that game was a masterpiece. Rebirth was okay, it had cool ideas but it never wow'd me like the other 2. Here's to hoping.

[Decay Dragon]

I just hope its not the old cliche of "stuck in a creepy bunker on western front", kinda hope there will be more to it than just that but ig we'll see. Who knows, maybe we get another dark descent or maybe we get another rebirth, lets wait and see

[MapleOmega]

While i agree with the sentiment, Rebirth still did contribute to the world building aesthetic of not only the origins of the Shadow, but the Orbs. And this is important information. Regarding gameplay it had a few puzzles here and there, but ultimately other gameplay mechanics took you out of the world, probably more often than players would have liked.

While ambience and horror is great, eventually it only works on you so many times. But regardless it's great to see a new Amnesia game, was pleasantly surprised to see it.

[_MaZ_TeR_]

Hoping for the return of disturbing looking creatures like in the original. The Wendigos in the last game were rather disappointing after the first time you saw one clearly and how they related to the plot.

The ones from the original were just so bizarre and out of this world and there was little you could relate to them. Hell, even their sounds are so damn iconic no thanks to the YouTube culture of the early 2010s. Also, the return of some damn good ambient music needs to happen.

[mrorange]

Actually I liked that Rebirth was more story driven than puzzle orientated. Just finished the game yesterday, in only two sessions. If there would have been more and more difficult puzzles I would have probably stopped playing half way through.

[sergantuss]

Rebirth was not that bad how ppl calling it to be honest.
they just went kinda far with baby theme and kinda lost the vibe of the game for this.

the *other world* idea was great but rly poorly created.
the *hive* section was 10 out of 10 for me.
the *other dimansion* was kinda fun as well

the main problem of the game was story. there is so many stuff that just there to be there and *monsters* was so heavy scripted that it was not even funy.
i feel like i finished 60% of the game before i even know that i can prone and it will solve every single problem of the game

i still finished the game with plesure all tho endings is kinda depressing(but i guess this is why they used baby theme to create insane drama for endings)

but i can confirm that fortress was the best *human world* part of the game

[Hootlook]

I loved Rebirth because of the environment, there was something very sick about the desert setting mixed with death, every times i was seeing gore i could almost smell the dried blood. The desert really felt stranded. The later chapters where also good, the only thing i didn't like was the too obvious scripted encounters and the character feelings often being forced upon you.

Now is the world building enough to make a good Amnésia ? I don't know i'm a purist myself and yet i felt sick to my stomach playing Rebirth and thats all it needed to be for me

[BEHAVIOUR MUST DIE!]

I sincerely hope that the Frictional Games studio will rehabilitate itself after the boring and mediocre game "Amnesia: Rebirth" and "The Bunker" will tell a truly terrible story.

Although, in fact, they will not jump higher than "SOMA" anymore.
Since Mikael Hedberg (author of "Amnesia The Dark Descent" and "SOMA") has not been working in the studio of Frictional Games for a long time, which means that it can already be concluded: this is not the studio that was before.

[Pentazer]

Let's hope this isn't a total failure like rebirth was.
But... it has guns.. so.... my expectations are very low.